The present invention relates generally to the field of programmable electrical devices, such as those used in industrial and other settings. More particularly, the invention relates to a technique for programming an electrical device through the assistance of a separate, server-enabled device, such as a human machine interface device.
The field of control and monitoring systems is replete with various types of devices and components, some of which may be programmed. In industrial settings, for example, many sensors, actuators, relays, contractors, and other electrical and electronic devices are used, an increasing number of which have limited programmability of their functions. For example, such devices may be programmed to retrieve from or write data to certain registers (locally and of networked devices), make calculations based upon received data, and control themselves or other devices in certain situations.
Another class of programmable devices used in industrial, commercial and other settings may be generally termed human machine interfaces. A typical human machine interface (HMI) used in industry, for example, may include programming for controlling various devices and processes, or may constitute a relatively simple panel that displays graphical configurations, sensed and monitored parameters, control settings, tables, and so forth. In industrial and process control systems, for example, such HMI's are extremely common, and may be coupled to remote machinery, sensors, controllers, and even personal computers and workstations for monitoring parameters of complex systems, and controlling their operation.
Significant improvements have been made in HMI designs and operation over the past several years. For example, recent developments include the ability to program HMI's by serving certain data stored on the HMI to a configuration station. Where the HMI is designed for object-oriented control, objects on the HMI may define graphical features of display screens, as well as calculations made based upon received data, various processes performed within the HMI, as so forth. Moreover, HMI's have been developed that include server software for providing current configuration of the HMI to a configuration station, such as a workstation. The configuration can be altered on the workstation without any special software using a conventional browser application. The configuration can then be restored to the HMI to alter the appearance of user-viewable screens, calculations and processes used by the HMI, and so forth.
A challenge, however, exists in programming other devices of the type mentioned above, or HMI's that are not equipped to interact with a configuration station in this way. Such devices may not be capable of, or for cost reasons, may not be provided with such on-board configuration capabilities. That is, the flexibility in their configuration is reduced in an effort to control the overhead associated with software, memory and cost for certain devices which are highly sensitive to such overhead. For example, certain simple or small devices may not be provided with the software required to fully enumerate their object properties, or serve a design environment for altering the properties. There is a need, therefore, for an improved technique that would accommodate such devices that cannot, themselves, interact with a configuration station via a served design environment.